Mentoring has been used for centuries as a way for a person to pass on knowledge, skills, or support to a less experienced person. Mentoring in the workplace, however, was not studied until the early 1980s, and then more than a decade later, mentoring was studied in the context of the K-12 teacher workforce. Mentoring has improved teacher effectiveness (Yuan, 2015; Koedel, 2009; Campbell and Malkus, 2011); increased teachers’ self-efficacy (Ingersoll & May, 2011; Saffold, 2005; Louis, 2016); and contributed to teacher retention (Ingersoll & Kralik, 2004; Cohen & Fuller, 2006). Most mentoring studies and theories, however, have been developed with a teacher population that is largely White. While about 50% of students in K-12 public schools in the U.S. are non-White, only 18% of teachers are non-White. Because teachers of color have a profound and positive impact on students, they are worth studying. The purpose of this study is to understand the mentoring experiences of teachers of color in K-12 public charter schools in New Orleans, and to explore how teachers of color benefited from mentoring in the areas of career development and psychosocial support. The researcher utilized a qualitative, phenomenological approach by interviewing ten participants and analyzing the essence of their experiences. Five themes resulted from this research: race plays a significant role in the mentoring of teachers of color; the charter school system in New Orleans has had an impact on the racial make-up of teachers; informal and formal mentoring form a winning combination; mentors provided teachers of color with validation and cultural navigation tools; and mentoring improved teaching practices and retention. This study can have an impact on mentoring theory as it relates to race and identity. This study also has practical implications for K-12 leaders in the way that teachers of color are supported.

<p>Trots satsningar på att rekrytera fler kvinnor har Försvarsmakten fortfarande en låg andel kvinnor anställda i myndigheten.</p><p>Försvarsmakten har svårt att fullfölja kraven på en ökad andel kvinnor på alla nivåer i internationell tjänst med knappt fem procent kvinnliga yrkesofficerare. Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka vilka förutsättningar som fanns att rekrytera kvinnor till två missioner i Afghanistan, FS 14 och FS 15, att jämföra de båda missionernas rekrytering, samt att beskriva hur väl Försvarsmakten nådde upp till regeringens krav avseende kvinnlig representation i internationell tjänst.</p><p>Uppsatsen beskriver först de förutsättningar, dokument och andra styrande faktorer som ligger till grund för rekryteringen. Därefter jämförs resultaten för de båda missionerna och diskuterar de likheter och skillnader som finns.</p><p>Undersökningen visar att förutsättningarna att rekrytera kvinnor till FS 14 och FS 15 inte var särskilt goda med tanke på de fåtal procent kvinnliga yrkesofficerare som var anställda i Försvarsmakten. Intressant är att de två missionerna lyckades olika väl med rekryteringen av kvinnor, där FS 15 rekryterade fler trots ett mindre rekryteringsunderlag.</p><p>En slutsats är att den rekryteringsprocessens utformning bidrar till det låga antal kvinnor i internationell tjänst.</p> / <p>The Swedish Armed Forces is an organization having difficulties achieving a higher representation of women, nationally as well as internationally. Since the founding of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 in year 2000, which addresses the issue women, peace and security, the Swedish Government has formed an action plan demanding more women to be recruited to the Armed Forces. A variety of measures have been taken but women are still not even a minority among officers at only 4.7 percent. This thesis studies and compares the female representation in two missions to Afghanistan in 2008. The study is based on literature and statistics. The results do not attempt to picture a general image of the conditions applying to recruiting women, since the study is reduced to two missions in 2008. It can, however give some general indications since the statistics can be applied to the representation of women in the Swedish Armed Forces in general.</p><p>   The results show that the Swedish Armed Forces did not manage to recruit enough women to either of the missions in order to fulfil the demand set by the government. Never the less, this study shows that the Armed Forces was not far from reaching the goals set by the Swedish government in the category female officers. A possible explanation to the negative results is the way the recruitment process is constituted together with the lack of precise instructions concerning the recruitment of women.</p>

This doctoral thesis had two purposes. 1. To study some preschool teachers’ possibilities to develop a gender aware pedagogy by applying theories of organisation, profession and collaboration. 2. To do qualitative research by drawing on principles of research for social justice, as a contribution to the development of methodology in feminist educational action research. The following research questions helped elucidate these purposes: How do preschool teachers create space for reflection and knowledge processes over time? What individual and collective actions do preschool teachers take over time? How can this study contribute to organisational development? Feminist pragmatism served as the philosophical underpinning for feminist action research (FAR) as a methodology and method. The preschool teachers were regarded as agents for change in their own pedagogic and organisational practices. Over a three-year period meetings were conducted on a regular basis. One-on-one interviews, group interviews, numerous emails, telephone calls and some observations completed the data collection. The analytical research narrative emerged by linking the preschool teachers’ actions to their ambiguous professional status. Actions were interpreted by applying the principles inherent in FAR, what, who and critical incidents over time. The absence of professional recognition from the municipal employer and parents for the preschool teachers was evident. Since the preschool teachers needed professional recognition, they experienced the collaborative nature of this study of great value as it conferred legitimacy for their professional development. There emerged meaningful pedagogic change over time, which emphasised the temporal aspect of organisational change from the bottom up. Collective actions began to take root in a shared value system. The design of the project – to collaborate with an outside ally – was decisive in regard to creating space for reflection and collective actions. Collective actions were possible due to the courage of individual participants who dared break silences surrounding organisational injustices. In conclusion, it can be stated that organisational change over time is indeed possible by practising radical openness for agency. Transformative knowledge processes can be achieved provided that genuine offers of participation are issued and well received. By elaborating on terms such as action, participation, emancipation, social justice and knowledge, a methodological contribution could be made to feminist action research. / Denna avhandling hade två syften. 1. Att i ett organisations-, professions- och pedagogiskt samverkansperspektiv studera några förskollärares möjligheter och hinder för utvecklingen av en genusmedveten pedagogik. 2. Att bedriva kvalita-tiv forskning utifrån antaganden om forskning för social rättvisa, som ett bidrag till metodologiutveckling. Följande frågeställningar belyste dessa syften: Hur skapar förskollärare utrymme för reflektion och kunskapsprocesser över tid; vil-ka individuella och kollektiva handlingar utför förskollärare över tid; vilka bi-drag till verksamhetsutveckling kan en studie av detta slag göra? Med feminis-tisk pragmatism som vetenskapsteoretisk grund tillämpades feministisk aktions-forskning som satte förskollärarnas frågeställningar i centrum. Under tre års tid ägde regelbundna träffar rum för gemensamma reflektioner, utvärderingar och planeringar av pedagogiska handlingar. Enskilda och gruppintervjuer, deltagande observationer samt en stor mängd mejl-, telefon- och brevutbyten kompletterade datainsamlingen. Den analytiska forskningsberättelsen växte fram under åter-koppling till förskollärares handlingar och i ljuset av förskollärares diffusa pro-fessionstillhörighet. Handlingarna tolkades utifrån de i feministisk aktionsforsk-ningsmetodologi inneboende principerna vad, vem och kritiska händelser över tid. Organisations- och professionsteoretiska analyser visade att förskollärarnas handlingar varken erkändes som professionella av den kommunala arbetsgivaren eller föräldrarna. Förskollärarnas behov av professionell erkänsla var stort, men när den uteblev, visade sig det långsiktiga utvecklingsarbetet vara av stort värde, därför att förskollärarna lyckades åstadkomma pedagogiskt sett meningsfulla förändringar, vilket understryker den temporala aspekten av organisatoriska för-ändringar underifrån. Förskollärarnas kollektiva handlingar började rota sig i en gemensam värdegrund. Formen av utvecklingsarbetet - att samarbeta med en al-lierad utifrån - var avgörande för skapandet av utrymme för reflektion och kol-lektiva handlingar. Kollektiva handlingar möjliggjordes i hög utsträckning tack vare enskilda deltagares mod att bryta tystnader om orättvisor i den egna verk-samheten. En slutsats är att det är möjligt att åstadkomma organisatoriska för-ändringar över tid genom en radikal öppenhet för agency. Transformativa kun-skapsprocesser kan åstadkommas om erbjudanden till ett genuint deltagande i ett förändringsarbete lämnas och mottas. Genom en problematisering av termer som handling, deltagande, emancipation, social rättvisa och kunskap gjordes ett me-todologiskt bidrag till feministisk aktionsforskning.

Trots satsningar på att rekrytera fler kvinnor har Försvarsmakten fortfarande en låg andel kvinnor anställda i myndigheten. Försvarsmakten har svårt att fullfölja kraven på en ökad andel kvinnor på alla nivåer i internationell tjänst med knappt fem procent kvinnliga yrkesofficerare. Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka vilka förutsättningar som fanns att rekrytera kvinnor till två missioner i Afghanistan, FS 14 och FS 15, att jämföra de båda missionernas rekrytering, samt att beskriva hur väl Försvarsmakten nådde upp till regeringens krav avseende kvinnlig representation i internationell tjänst. Uppsatsen beskriver först de förutsättningar, dokument och andra styrande faktorer som ligger till grund för rekryteringen. Därefter jämförs resultaten för de båda missionerna och diskuterar de likheter och skillnader som finns. Undersökningen visar att förutsättningarna att rekrytera kvinnor till FS 14 och FS 15 inte var särskilt goda med tanke på de fåtal procent kvinnliga yrkesofficerare som var anställda i Försvarsmakten. Intressant är att de två missionerna lyckades olika väl med rekryteringen av kvinnor, där FS 15 rekryterade fler trots ett mindre rekryteringsunderlag. En slutsats är att den rekryteringsprocessens utformning bidrar till det låga antal kvinnor i internationell tjänst. / The Swedish Armed Forces is an organization having difficulties achieving a higher representation of women, nationally as well as internationally. Since the founding of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 in year 2000, which addresses the issue women, peace and security, the Swedish Government has formed an action plan demanding more women to be recruited to the Armed Forces. A variety of measures have been taken but women are still not even a minority among officers at only 4.7 percent. This thesis studies and compares the female representation in two missions to Afghanistan in 2008. The study is based on literature and statistics. The results do not attempt to picture a general image of the conditions applying to recruiting women, since the study is reduced to two missions in 2008. It can, however give some general indications since the statistics can be applied to the representation of women in the Swedish Armed Forces in general.    The results show that the Swedish Armed Forces did not manage to recruit enough women to either of the missions in order to fulfil the demand set by the government. Never the less, this study shows that the Armed Forces was not far from reaching the goals set by the Swedish government in the category female officers. A possible explanation to the negative results is the way the recruitment process is constituted together with the lack of precise instructions concerning the recruitment of women.

This study explores the conditions in which women teaching and conducting research in the fields of computer science, computer engineering and information technology in six Romanian universities live and work. The research begins from women’s concerns and practices of everyday life, rather than those of institutions and disciplines. This exploratory work asked two fundamental questions of the women interviewed: what does it mean to be a woman academic in these high-tech disciplines, and what does it mean to be a second world academic. Employing a critical feminist ethnographic framework, the study explored the professional lives of seven women academics whose ranks varied from Lecturer to Professor through in-depth, face-to-face interviews. A number of documents were also reviewed in order to create a context for the major social and political changes in Eastern Europe – including its new connections to Europe – that had an impact on the professional journeys of women academics in Romania. Findings convey a multiplicity of conscious and unconscious inclusion and exclusionary practices, and ways in which gender, technology, higher education, neo-liberalism and globalisation are bound together. The findings reveal nuanced systemic gender exclusionary practices suggesting that the theoretical underpinnings and practice of gender equality employed in Romania and by Romanian higher education institutions needs much further study. Women academics in computing face a complex interplay of discouraging factors such as severe financial austerity and the masculine domination of the disciplines being most salient. The implication for educational change is the need to establish structures and mechanisms to foster honest debate around the dilemma: equality of opportunity, equality of outcome versus gender mainstreaming which has been the normative action in Eastern Europe for decades.

The purpose of this study is to examine through a phenomenological approach the impact of the instructional practices of three African-American female teachers on the learning outcomes in mathematics of third- to fifth-grade African-American males. The research design of this study utilized a qualitative and quantitative phenomenological model to examine a particular group of teachers and their students at a suburban metro Atlanta school district. The researcher conducted data analysis using a variety of statistical testing to examine the relationships between student learning outcomes and gender, race, teacher perceptions and beliefs, teacher expectations, teacher-student interactions, student behavior, differentiated learning, and parental influences for each grade level. The findings from this research show how both internal and external factors can contribute to student learning outcomes as well as how common themes emerged related to pedagogical practices. Moreover, the results of the study indicate that educators must come to terms with the reality of their teaching practices. The study shows how three African-American teachers successfully promoted effective teaching practices that provided an equitable learning environment that impacted both the quality and quantity of teaching and learning for African-American students in their learning outcomes.

The study investigates the role of religious education in the promotion of girls’ educational rights in peri-urban schools in Chingola district, Zambia. Fifteen schools were involved in the study and are all in the outskirts of Chingola town. Data was collected through oral interviews, questionnaires and observations. Questionnaires were given to 260 girls ranging from grade 5 to 9. Five questionnaires were distributed to each class. Besides the school girls, six instructresses were interviewed on cultural beliefs and practices that hinder girls’ progress in education. In addition, 15 teachers were also interviewed specifically to identify topics in Religious Education and their relevance in the promotion of self-confidence and self-esteem among girls as well as various teaching methods which promote learner-centredness. The Religious Education curriculum at primary, secondary and college levels of education was evaluated to assess its relevance to the promotion of girls’ education. Furthermore, contributions by some Non-Governmental Organisations and Religious Education towards gender equity in education and the Zambian government policy on gender were highlighted. The findings of the study were in four categories namely: cultural beliefs and practices that hinder girls’ progress in education, other problems affecting girl-child education besides cultural norms, freedom to enable girls to make their own constructive decisions, and topics in Religious Education which have the potential to promote self-confidence and self-esteem among the girls. The cultural beliefs and practices highlighted were the initiation ceremonies, early pregnancies and early marriages. The other problems hindering girls’ progress and advancement which came out vividly were long distances from home to school, poverty, boys jeering at girls when they got wrong answers and household chores. Further findings identified topics in Religious Education and their relevance towards the promotion of girls’ educational rights despite the influence of cultural beliefs and practices in the peri-urban schools. Some of the topics were ‘Advantages of having a friend’ taught in grade 1, ‘Growing in responsibility’ taught in grade 2, ‘Bravery and courage’ taught in grade 4, ‘Happiness’ taught in grade 5, ‘Development and co-operation’ taught in grade 6, ‘Marriage and family life’ taught in grade 7, ‘How people make choices’ taught in grade 8, ‘The talents people have’ taught in grade 8, ‘How people develop’ and ‘How religion helps people’ taught in grade 8, ‘Freedom and community’ as well as ‘Ambitions and hopes’ taught in grade 9. In conclusion, the research study has revealed that Religious Education as a subject has the potential to promote the girls’ educational rights and advancement in the peri-urban schools. Other subjects taught like Mathematics, Science and Technology are experimental subjects. They were rigid and cannot be bent while Religious Education leaves room for freedom in making concrete decisions. It deals also with emotions, values, and feelings. Mathematics imposes the facts without query. / Religious Studies / M.A. (Religious studies)

MGS / Institute for Gender and Youth Studies

DEd / Department of Curriculum Studies and Educational Management

This study is about the gender dimensions of land reform in South Africa. The case study is that of a housing and resettlement project in Daggakraal, Mpumalanga Province. The aim of the study was to describe and analyse empirical realities for rural women, in relation to land, in Daggakraal. The focus was on the research questions for the study namely the nature of land reform practice; whether gender issues were central in land reform at all stages of the project; whether or not participation of women was truly genuine; and the constraints that were faced in the process of land reform delivery. The study was conducted in Daggakraal, a rural town in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. Research methods employed were both quantitative and qualitative with more emphasis on the latter. A total of 100 respondents participated in the study. This number included 10 key informants 3 of whom were trained as research assistants. The findings indicate that there was very little gender analysis carried out prior to land reform. For this reason land reform has not benefitted the women and men of Daggakraal. Land reform policies and other legislation put in place were not followed to the letter in Daggakraal and in other areas of the country where land reform was implemented; the first land reform (SLAG) has not benefitted the poor, especially women; the rural terrain is an area of contestation and competing interests between women and men. There is also a lack of institutional arrangements to implement a gendered approach to land reform. This study demonstrates the need to tackle and transform the existing power relations at the household level, if government is serious about the gender dimension of land reform in South Africa. In a small way it is hoped that this study will contribute to the limited writing on land reform and gender and also provide a gendered critique of the land reform programme in South Africa. The Gender Analysis Framework (GAF) and the feminist and gender perspectives have helped the researcher to understand and explain the gender dynamics in Daggakraal. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)