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Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

A sociocultural ontology forms the foundation for this grounded theory ethnography describing how teachers in a U.S. elementary school changed professional learning from a “training model” to a “situative model.” Findings answer the research question: How does the introduction of a situative model influence the process of teacher learning and professional development? A practitioner researcher stance and emic perspective facilitated an iterative analysis of 42 veteran teachers during the first-year implementation of a situative professional learning model called Teacher Communities of Learning (TCLs). Data collection included a repeated questionnaire, participant observations with field notes, and audio transcripts of TCL meetings. Formal and informal interviews provided opportunities for triangulation of data and theory development. ATLAS.ti assisted a constant comparative analysis process. Findings include a description of teachers’ participation in TCLs, influences on participation (e.g., roles, care, reflection), responses to TCLs among Suntree teachers, and shifts that occurred during the academic year as TCLs were introduced. The role of practitioner research in school and teacher change processes, the process of negotiation during situative learning, and differences in teachers’ roles and responses to TCLs are discussed. This research promotes a model for understanding how reflection and enaction account for teacher change and the importance of an ethic of care on formation of a professional community of learners.

While much is known about the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) on women in adulthood, little is currently known about their self-care efforts. Given the paucity of research on self-care for survivors, particularly those who are also mothers, and the potential importance of self-care for both themselves and their children, the main goal of the present study was to explore these women’s perceptions and practices of self-care. A grounded theory approach was chosen for this exploration as it provided a sensitive and open-ended methodology which garnered an in-depth understanding of self-care for survivor mothers. The current study combined classic grounded theory (GT) research methods with photovoice methods to explore self-care from the perspective of CSA survivor mothers. Analyses of interview and photograph data from 14 survivor mothers resulted in an original basic social process for understanding how these women care for themselves, feel better, and engage in healing in the context of past violence and trauma. Complex interactive behavioural patterns were identified that recreated a whole self out of damaged fragments; these were conceptualized as “reconstituting a damaged self”. This basic social process was comprised of three main stages, including: emotional de-paining, safetying, and authenticating and returning to self. Several substages within each of these main stages were also identified. Findings were discussed in relation to four theoretical frameworks. Future research directions and clinical implications for this neglected population were suggested. Reconstituting a damaged self can be a long process for sexual abuse survivor mothers involving taking small safe steps, for the most part, on one’s own.

Les éducateurs se demandent souvent ce qui était l’impact des programmes qu’ils offrent aux élèves. Cette recherche explore les perceptions des finissants du Programme du diplôme de l’International Baccalaureate une fois qu’ils ont terminé la première année d’études universitaires. Dans ce contexte, cette étude vise la participation de cinq diplômés du Programme au Manitoba et emploie une méthodologie qualitative de l’étude de cas (Yin, 2002) basée dans le socioconstructivisme (Vygotsky, 1978) afin d’explorer les perceptions de ces diplômés. Les principes et les méthodes de la Théorisation ancrée (Charmaz, 2006) ont guidé la collecte des données, l’analyse, et l’interprétation. Les résultats de cette étude offrent un aperçu du vécu des participants dans le Programme afin de comprendre leur motivation à choisir le Programme, l’atmosphère du Programme, le rôle des éducateurs dans le Programme ainsi que l’impact du Programme au-delà des études secondaires. Il serait recommandé de continuer l’exploration des perspectives de divers anciens élèves du Programme – finissants ou pas - provenant d’autres pays et d’une variété d’écoles.   Educators often wonder about the impact of the programs they offer their students. This study explores the perceptions of the graduates of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme once they have finished the first year of university studies. The study centres on the participation of five Manitoba graduates. A qualitative case study methodology (Yin, 2002) based on socio-constructivism (Vygotsky, 1978) was used to explore the perceptions of these graduates while the principles and methods of Grounded Theory (Chamaz, 2006) guided the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. The results of the study offer an insight into the motivation for selecting the Diploma Programme, the atmosphere within the Programme, the role of educators in the Programme as well as the impact of the Programme beyond the high school level. Recommendations include further exploration of the perceptions of former students of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, be they graduates or not, from diverse countries and a wide variety of schools.

Hur upplever vi former och färger när de flyttas från ett papper till ljusprojektioner? Det här är en av frågorna jag ville få svar på när jag började med detta projekt. Allting utmynnade sig i en studie jag valt att kalla för, Ljusprojektioner och ränder. Det är ett experimenterande arbete där former, mönster och den upplevda erfarenheten av dem har undersökts ur ett fenomenologiskt perspektiv. Studien har utförts i form av två designpedagogiska experiment på Konstfack tillsammans med sju deltagare. Genom att laborera med projektioner och ljus har nya former och mönster skapats. Olika ränder projicerades på deltagarnas kroppar och i detta möte skapades oväntade uttryck, som jag valt att kallat för ”magiska ögonblick”. I samspel med projektionerna agerade deltagarna intuitivt genom att röra sig i rummet och en sorts performance skapades i stunden. Den performativa akten skapade nya uttryck och former och utmynnade sig i en metod som jag kallar för Performativ design. Performativ design kan användas som en alternativ designprocess i skapandet av form och mönster och ett arbetssätt som jag vill uppmana bildlärare att utveckla vidare. Utöver den teoretiska delen, består arbetet även av en visuell gestaltning av projektet som presenteras i en separat bilaga.

Fragmented and adversarial are words used routinely to describe firstly the structure of the construction industry, and secondly the inherent culture that continues to exist within it. Both are characteristics that ultimately serve to not only routinely constrain the efficiency, performance and resultant productivity of the New Zealand building sector, but moreover they persist to play a part in increasing related costs whilst diminishing the quality of the built environment surrounding us. The ubiquity of the outsource model goes some way towards mitigating much of the risk and financial encumbrances that large construction companies have historically faced. But consequentially it is directly responsible for an industry now propagated mostly by small, specialist trade subcontracting organisations that for the most part are reliant upon securing work through construction companies. Contiguous to a degree is the propensity of an industry focussed upon procuring construction by means of competitive tendering, an approach whereby successful bids are traditionally weighted towards those incorporating the lowest initial cost. To garner an understanding of the role that contextual significance plays in construction procurement this study was facilitated by utilising a constructivist grounded theoretical approach. Data was generated by the way of fifty interviews with construction industry stakeholders, inclusive of Sub-Contractors, Main Contractors, Consultants, Architects and Clients. Subsequent analysis reveals that in response to power asymmetry and other environmental conditions, organisations have developed numerous proactive, reactive and opportunistic strategies and behaviours that become evident as the procurement process progresses. This study highlights and explains the relationships and factors from which an industry actor’s rationale is drawn. Furthermore, however, it argues that the proponents of construction industry procurement will when necessary, relax their ordinarily pre-conditioned moral constraints and consciously venture into business practices considered by their peers to be somewhat immoral.

The aim of this research is to explore the question of how farmers learn, in constructing knowledge both in and for practice. It seeks to identify how they gain new ideas, make changes, develop to a level of expertise and who and what contribute to this process. The rapidity of change in a high tech environment, combined with globalisation, the new economy and the knowledge age, means that farmers are living their lives in 'fast forward' mode. There is so much new technology, research and development available that the ability to identify information relevant to a particular farming practice and to process it to knowledge is an increasing challenge. Six central South Island (N.Z.) farmers were selected purposively as case studies. The range of case profiles provides for comparison and contrast of the relative importance of formal qualifications, differences between sheep/beef farmers and dairy farmers, levels of expertise, age and experiences. The self-rating of the farmers enables a comparison of lower and higher performers, identifying characteristics which enable insight into why some farmers consistently lead new practice and why others are reluctant followers. The research is qualitative in design and approached from a constructlVIst and interpretive paradigm. Socially and experientially based, it seeks to understand the experiences of the subjects through in-depth interviews and observations. This study identifies farmers as social learners although working independently, in relative geographical isolation and often, social isolation. It concludes that these farmers learn through participation in the practice of farming. This practice includes a constellation of cOmInunities of practice, which may be resource-rich or resource-poor, depending on the range and depth of the farmer's involvement. Through full and committed participation in these practice communities and associate constellations, the practitioner's identity evolves, encouraging new practices, ideas and innovation. This study emphasises that expertise is not a permanent state but requires evolving identity, knowledge and dispositional ability; for maintenance and growth within a culture of practice. Emergent grounded theory suggests that dispositional knowledge underpins construction and use of all knowledge; that construction and use of high-order propositional and procedural knowledge requires higher-order dispositional knowledge and that mastery is developed through evolving identity, dispositions, leadership and learning, socioculturally constructed through resource-rich constellations of communities of practice.

Several socio-structural theoretical approaches attempt to explain the gendered division of household labor, but the dyadic process of dividing labor has gone largely unexplored. Therefore, a grounded theory approach was taken with 20 dual-earner married couples to uncover the process of dividing household labor between spouses. The theory that emerged indicated that couples seek to maximize benefits in their distribution of labor, and do so by dividing tasks according to personal preferences and proficiencies. When a household task goes unclaimed by both spouses’ preferences and proficiencies, containment and outsourcing are the strategies employed to minimize the impact of the unclaimed task. The emergent theory can be used by researchers to illuminate the dyadic process of division of household labor in ways that other theories are not able. The theory can also be used by educators to prepare premarital couples for future division of household labor practices as well as by therapists who can identify problematic patterns within clients’ division of household labor process.

The constructivist grounded theory, actualizing collaborative learning, conceptualizes how British Columbia primary grade teachers interacted with the professional learning endeavour Changing Results for Young Readers (CR4YR). CR4YR was a British Columbia Ministry of Education initiated and co-facilitated cross-school Network Learning Community that included educators from four levels of the school system. While Network Learning Communities, such as the CR4YR initiative, have been increasingly utilized as professional learning models for educators, a review of the literature indicated that questions remained as to how teachers, who were unaccustomed to collaborative learning endeavour, adapted to environments in which vulnerability was the primary learning tool. This study addressed this knowledge gap. The theory, actualizing collaborative learning, emerged from analysis of data gathered through semi-structured interviews with 22 CR4YR participants in five British Columbia school districts. The interviewees included school district administrators, Reading Advocates, and teachers. The resulting theory specifies that collaborative learning in CR4YR was built upon the interaction of the four sub-processes: establishing trust, identifying with collaborative learning, becoming vulnerable, and mobilizing collaboration to the school. The participants’ utilization of the four sub-processes was impacted by three contextual factors which were skilled leadership, interlinking points of contact, and the extended time period allocated for the CR4YR initiative. The theory extends current conceptualizations of professional learning in network learning communities by identifying the contextual factors and sub-processes that support teachers as they acclimatize to collaborative learning in cross-school environments with representation from multiple levels of the school system. / Graduate / wilmot94@telus.net