The principal and teachers of a small independent South African school noticed a significant gap in the implementation of an effective Intermediate Phase (IP) reading curriculum. The principal decided to establish a Community of Inquiry (CoI) at the school to focus on this problem, and to research the process. The main purpose of this research was to investigate the affordances and constraints of the establishment of a CoI for the professional development of teachers as an instructional leadership intervention by the principal. The sub-questions that emerged from the main research question were: what would be the affordances and constraints of the principal establishing, facilitating and researching the CoI; what would be to the benefit of the teachers (and their learners) of establishing such a community for professional development and reading instruction in the IP; and, what processes are entailed in establishing an in-school CoI? To what degree, if any, would the CoI be a generating space to answer the research questions and aims? The literature review for the study explored the means of professional development available to educators and principals, especially Professional Learning Communities and their more focused interventions – Communities of Inquiry, and that professional development needs to target four levels – the teacher, their teaching, the community and collegiality at the school, and the principal as a developmental leader, in order for there to be an improvement in students’ learning. The concerning South African context with regard to reading in the IP was outlined, as well as that in the school. The South African curriculum IP learning outcomes and assessment standards for reading were critically explored against the backdrop of international curricula. The process of learning to read was traced. Hindrances to effective reading were also explored. The qualitative research design was an applied case study. Grounded Theory methods were used to reduce the data from the transcripts of CoI sessions. The findings of the research were that there are many affordances to establishing an in-school CoI, and that these benefits far outweigh the constraints. The CoI provided a germinating locus in which participants could begin to address the problems related to reading and reading instruction in the IP. It enabled the principal to develop as an instructional leader, and the teachers to develop as professionals and reading instructors. In hindsight, this project was a vital one, but considerably ambitious, difficult to implement, and perhaps even constrained in the sense of the principal establishing, facilitating and researching this process herself. However, without the principal driving, facilitating and researching the CoI, the question emerges whether such an intervention would have been established. Sometimes external insistences from authority can provide valuable impetus for change at schools, as long as these are sensitively handled and one has the support and trust of participants. The actual acceleration in learning that the participants experienced was extensive, and, sometimes it is only the principal that can play this role – especially in newly established communities. Much more research and support for principals in becoming instructional leaders and in establishing CoIs at their schools is required in the South African context.

This Mixed Method Research Project examines the possible marketing strategies that can be used to market township schools in the Gauteng province, within an increasingly competitive educational system. These strategies are investigated within the largely unbalanced infrastructural and resource dichotomy that exists between most township schools and the former Model C schools; the results of which has seen among many other challenges, the ever increasing learner migration from the township schools to the former Model C suburban schools. This pedagogical manuscript adopts a case study approach while simultaneously integrating the influences of established research paradigms like pragmatism and enterpretivism. Within the attempt to find the best marketing options for township schools, the project also consciously attempts to identify the challenges (and possible solutions) that the said schools face as they try to market themselves. The benefits of implementing the marketing matrix within the education product are henceforth highlighted within the narrative of the project. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Cette étude vise à explorer et comprendre le domaine substantiel des prises de décisions parentales et son principal soucis de développer une théorie du comportement parental envers la santé des enfants dans le contexte de la vie quotidienne des pays asiatiques en développement, qui sont caractérisés par des systèmes de santé non structurés et incertains. Nous avons employés la théorie classique de méthode fondée et nous avons analysé les données collectionnées au Vietnam provenant de 34 interviews avec des parents, du personnel de pharmacie et de six thèmes liés à la santé d’un forum parental en ligne. Nous avons observé des modes de comportements qui, sous les conditions d’incertitudes de haut niveau et de méfiance dans de multiple relations sociales, vivre les normes sociales et l’identité de rôle, les parents dans les pays asiatiques en développement étendent leur soi posé dans l’informel raisonnement de la médication. Les services de santé et les médicaments ne sont pas seulement des produits ou des services mais un processus dans lequel les parents s’immergent pour construire leur expérience. Nous proposons une théorie originale de l’immersion parentale du soi posé dans le raisonnement de la médication. Nous avons défini la construction d’immerger le soi posé comme le dévouement de la mentalité des parents et l’occupation centrale des parents quant aux services de santé des enfants. Nous arguons que l’immersion du consommateur n’a pas nécessairement lieu dans des extraordinaires cadres hédoniques, mais que c’est aussi intégré dans l’expérience de la vie quotidienne des parents et que c’est reflété à travers divers contrats social et interactions dans des pays asiatiques en développement. Notre théorie proposée prévoit une meilleure compréhension des comportements de santé parentale d’immersion concernant la santé des enfants et les médicaments dans les pays en développement. La construction de l’immersion du soi posé étend le concept d’implication des services de santé et exige des études supplémentaires et une conceptualisation d’un point de vue plus étendu quant à l’implication du consommateur. / This study aims to explore and understand the substantive area of parental decision-making and its main concern to develop a theory of parental behavior towards children health in an everyday life context in Asian developing countries, which are characterized by unstructured and uncertain healthcare systems. We employed classic grounded theory method and analyzed data collected in Vietnam from 34 interviews with parents and pharmacy staff and six health-related themes of a parental online forum. We observed patterns of behaviors that under the conditions of high-level uncertainties and mistrust in multiple social relationships, living the social norms and role identity, parents in Asian developing countries extend their lay selves into the informal reasoning of medication. Health care services and medications are not just products or services but a process in which parents immerse themselves to build their experience. We propose a novel theory of parental immersion of the lay self into medication reasoning. We defined the construct of immersing the lay self as the devotion of parents’ mentality and the occupancy of parents’ centrality to the health care of children. We argue that consumer immersion does not necessarily happen in extraordinary hedonic settings, but it is also embedded in the everyday life experience of parents and reflected through various social contracts and interactions in Asian developing countries. Our proposed theory provides a greater understanding of parental health behaviors of immersion regarding children’s health and medications in developing countries. The construct of lay self immersion expands the concept of healthcare involvement and requires further studies and conceptualization from a broader view of consumer involvement.

Thesis advisor: Audrey Friedman / As increasing numbers of international students enroll at US universities, these institutions must consider how best to create inclusive campus environments that serve varied learning needs. While international student enrollment at schools of education remains low, some elite programs are drawing growing numbers, but there is a dearth of research regarding international students' transitions into this culturally-embedded field. These experiences warrant investigation so that faculty, administrators, and fellow students might better understand, accommodate, and empower the international students in their midst. The purpose of this dissertation is to describe how 7 female international students from China, South Korea, and India perceive their transition experiences in Master’s programs at an elite US graduate school of education. Three interviews were conducted with each woman, using questions based on Charmaz's (2006) life change protocol. Research sub-questions concerned: a) the decision to study in the US, b) the women’s personal characteristics and background experiences, c) challenges and changes, d) strategies, and e) forms of support. Grounded theory was paired with narrative methods to analyze and present findings, highlighting themes within and across participants’ transitions. Schlossberg’s transition model (Anderson et al., 2012) was used to interpret results, especially women's coping resources. Three main themes emerged: the complexity of self-determination, hard work and its limits, and marginalization and attempts to minimize it. Despite positive experiences, the women faced challenges. While most gained a sense of independence, some resented their new responsibilities and missed previous support networks. All women reported hard work as a key academic strategy, but their diligence was not always enough to transcend language and cultural barriers. Faced with segregation and/or marginalization in America, most women attempted to enrich their experience, surrounding themselves with caring people, volunteering, or seeking resources to achieve goals. The findings suggest that institutions of higher education should assess the social and academic needs of international Master's students and offer tailored support services that address language and cultural barriers inherent in their programs. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Animal rights organizations, in attempting to affect institutional change in industrial animal agriculture, face an institutional mountain. I show how these organizations, though contesting institutions which are highly reified, tacitly endorsed, and historically inertial, leverage emotional experiences and regulation to incrementally move this mountain. Using a grounded qualitative study of interview data from animal rights advocates and archival data generated by animal rights organizations, this study finds that animal rights organizations have encoded both response- and antecedent-focused emotion regulation into two distinct strategies used to garner support for their institutional change project: transgression mining and seed planting. Furthermore, this study expounds upon the role of moral emotional experiences in the individual-level process by which persons alternate into support for animal rights organizations and their goals, here labeled autodidactic frame alignment. Drawing on Goffman’s backstage/frontstage distinction, this study illustrates how emotion’s role in institutional change efforts varies across both level of analysis and areas of interactive life. In doing so, this research adds empirical weight to and extends recent theoretical work expounding upon the emotionally-charged nature of the lived experience of institutions. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-13T14:10:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RITA DE CASSIA PALUDETTO.pdf: 1086879 bytes, checksum: 4d1880c5952653a5db4b201cd9e2bfc9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-04-23 / Consumption is a cultural phenomenon of the contemporary society, an interaction space, where social and political senses are negotiated. As a research field, consumption has become relevant in studies of applied social sciences due to its multidimensionality of expression and richness of materialities and subjectivities. In this research, the object of study is the "consumption as social mediation for citizenship," social mediation understood from Manuel Martín Serrano‟s point of view. To achieve this understanding, we explored the perceptions and understandings of consumption and the actions and practices of individuals subject to the urban context of São Paulo, seeking to raise and joint actions that promote reinterpretation of meanings and relationships. The challenge of empirical research includes a qualitative study using Grounded Theory as a methodological procedure combined with the inductive logic and the rules of interpretation and interpretive analytical procedures. The analysis result provides semantization "consumption as social mediation for the exercise of citizenship" as meaning "political transposition tactic," limited understanding of the empirical universe, basis of this dissertation. / O consumo é um fenômeno cultural da sociedade contemporânea, um espaço de interação, onde são negociados sentidos sociais e políticos. Enquanto campo de pesquisa, o consumo já conquistou relevância nos estudos das ciências sociais aplicadas por sua multidimensionalidade de expressão e riqueza de materialidades e subjetividades. Nesta pesquisa, o objeto de estudo é o consumo como mediação social para o exercício da cidadania , mediação social entendida a partir de Manuel Martín Serrano. Para atingir essa compreensão, exploramos as percepções e os entendimentos do consumo e das ações e práticas dos indivíduos sujeitos no contexto urbano na cidade de São Paulo, buscando levantar ações e articulações que promovem ressignificações e relações de sentidos. O desafio de investigação empírica contempla um estudo qualitativo, utilizando a Teoria Fundamentada como procedimento metodológico combinado com a lógica indutiva e os preceitos de interpretação como procedimentos analítico-interpretativos. O resultado da análise oferece a semantização do consumo como mediação social para o exercício da cidadania significado como tática de transposição política , entendimento limitado ao universo empírico, base desta dissertação

Preocupações com o envelhecimento populacional, que cresce rapidamente nos países em desenvolvimento, aliado à intensa degradação do meio ambiente, levaram ao delineamento desta pesquisa. Inicialmente, procurou-se discutir e compreender o processo de envelhecimento individual e populacional, estudando suas teorias: por que e como envelhecemos e alcançamos a longevidade. Destaca-se os fatores associados positivamente à longevidade: restrição alimentar, genética e hereditariedade, hábitos de vida, engajamento social, entre outros. E condicionantes negativos, situações de exposição opostas a estas, dentre as quais a poluição merece destaque pela morbimortalidade a ela associada, podendo encurtar o tempo de vida. Destaca-se a complexidade dos problemas ambientais e a necessidade de romper com o reducionismo, avançando na Saúde Ambiental e seus indicadores. O objetivo do presente estudo foi compreender as possíveis associações entre fatores ambientais e aumento da longevidade humana, segundo a perspectiva de um grupo de longevos ferroviários. Questionário semi-estruturado foi aplicado a uma população mais homogênea de longevos (30 ex-ferroviários aposentados da Estrada de Ferro Sorocabana de Botucatu). Caracterizou-se a vida desses indivíduos e se resgatou a importante história da ferrovia, buscando evidências de associações entre meio ambiente, saúde e longevidade, por intermédio de metodologia qualitativa (Grounded Theory) e quantitativa. Utilizando a Grounded Theory, emergiram três fenômenos, retratados a partir da experiência dos entrevistados: ANIQUILANDO A VIDA, GERANDO VIDA e FALTANDO CONTROLE SOCIAL E DO ESTADO. Esses longevos percebem o aniquilamento atual do meio ambiente, da ferrovia e até da própria vida, desencadeado pela falta de controle social e do Estado, aliado à falta de consciência coletiva, empreendido pelo movimento da ideologia capitalista do lucro a qualquer custo. Percebem que vários fatores influenciam a longevidade, como: conviver em um ambiente harmônico e sem poluição; adotar estilo de vida saudável e sociável; envolver-se com o trabalho e ter renda para se sustentar; ser e estar tranqüilo e feliz; fatores biológicos e genéticos favoráveis. Por meio desta pesquisa, levantam-se três premissas: a complexidade dos fatores associados ao binômio meio-ambiente-longevidade, suas inter-relações, e a necessidade de internalização do meio ambiente no processo de saúde-doença-envelhecimento. Propõem-se nova hipótese nas teorias da longevidade: valorização das funções desempenhadas(VFD). A partir da experiência dos longevos, destacando o papel da memória, denota-se a importância em subsidiar a população idosa a empoderar-se para que possa exigir dos governantes ações mais efetivas no sentido de garantir melhor qualidade de vida. Também é importante empoderá-los para que possam lutar contra a degradação ambiental e da própria vida, contra esta cultura do imediatismo e da etnodesvalorização, em um processo dialético histórico que faz o passado representar a vida (ganhos = trabalho, tempo áureo da ferrovia) e o presente a morte (perdas = degradação ambiental, aniquilamento da ferrovia e ferroviários, doenças). / Concerns with population aging, which grows fast in developing countries, associated with the intense environmental degradation, have led to delineation this research. Initially tried to discuss, and understand individual and population aging process, studying their theories: how and why we age, and reach longevity. Emphasize the factors positively associated to longevity: food restriction, genetics, and heredity, life habits, social engagement, among others. And negative conditioners, situation of exposure opposite to these, especially highlighting pollution because of the morbimortality associated with it, can shorten the life-span. Complexity of environmental problems, and necessity to break up reductionism are outstanding, moving forward in Environmental Health and its indicators. The objective of the current study aim to comprehend the possibility of associating environmental factors with an increase in human longevity, through the perspective of a group of longevity railroaders. A semi-structured questionnaire was applied to a homogeneous longevity group (30 retired ex-railroaders from Estrada de Ferro Sorocabana in Botucatu, State of São Paulo). It characterized the lives of these individuals and recovered the importance of railroad history, seeking evidences of associations among environment, health, and longevity through qualitative methodology (Grounded Theory) and quantitative one. Through Grounded Theory, three phenomena emerged, depicted from the experience of the interviewed people: ANNIHILATING LIFE, GENERATING LIFE, and LACKING SOCIAL, AND STATE CONTROL. These longevity individuals detect the current annihilation of the environment, of the railroad, and even of life itself, descending from the lack of social, and State control, allied with lack of a collective conscience, undertaken by the movement of capitalist ideology of profit at any cost. They perceive that various factors have an influence on longevity, such as living in a harmonious environment without pollution, adopting a healthful and sociable lifestyle, involving oneself in work that earns a sustainable income, becoming and staying tranquil and happy; having favorable biological and genetic factors. This research raises three premises: the complexity of factors associated to the binomial environment longevity; their interrelations; and the need to internalize environment in the health-disease-aging process. Suggest a new hypothesis of theory of longevity: Valorization of the Develop Functions (VDF). From the experience of longevity workers, emphasizing memorys role, it denotes the importance of providing the elderly population and empowering them for what they may demand from more effective governmental actions in the sense of guaranteeing a better quality of life. Also it is important to empower them for their struggle against degradation of the environment and own lives, against this culture of immediatism, and ethno devaluation, in a historic dialetic process which makes the past represent life (profits=work, golden age of the railroads) and the present signify death (losses=environmental degradation, annihilation of the railroad and railroaders, diseases).

Since the opening of European borders to new EU member states, a large number of immigrants continue to arrive in the UK and specifically to the East Midlands and East Anglia. To date, little or no research has been conducted to understand their experience and adjustment in this part of the country. With my research I aimed to find out how Lithuanian emigration affected family relationships and to identify issues that families face when a member emigrates on his/her own. I conducted qualitative research using different methods of data collection: online (skype) and face-to-face interviews, focus group and remote discussion techniques. Data has been coded using NVivo8 and NVivo10 and analysed using grounded theory. Findings show that the transition stage, while a family lives apart, puts an enormous strain on relationships within a family. However, it does not lead to nor causes break ups provided the family was a close unit prior to migration. The final results support the emerging theory that if the family had good relationships back in Lithuania, then all challenges of migration would not break that bond. On the contrary, they would strengthen relationships. My findings answer the initial research question as to whether migration to the UK affects Lithuanian family relationships by suggesting that it does not any more than any other stressful life events, e.g. death, childbirth, job loss, illness, house move, etc. Findings suggest that, if families discuss matters and look for the solutions together, the negative impact of migration might be avoided or lessened. My research contributes to the knowledge by applying novelty frameworks such as grounded theory and Layder’s theory of social domains in order to analyse and understand the Lithuanian migration phenomenon in the UK, particularly in East Anglia and the East Midlands.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:44:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cassia Maria Paula Lima.pdf: 2230053 bytes, checksum: ccd55850e398b11190508b5c79132ace (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-03 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The purpose of this dissertation is to understand the social entrepreneur, from the observation his practice and seeking to consolidate a comprehensive overview, an understanding of this agent that incorporates the approaches of different disciplines that study. The social entrepreneur presents features, depending on who defines it: Administrators, psychologists, sociologists and economists. It is relevant to add that notice of any fact or social action is not a simple task, as society is, by its very nature and in any instance, complex; the complexity grows in the area of current humanitarian aid because of the multiple actions arising in this new segment, such as: Investment Fund in order to generate social impact, social business, social transparency, governance, 2.5 and municipal councils with the new social movements. As well as new actors appear institutions: social entrepreneurs and investors, that coexist with other well-known actors in society, as philanthropists. To this end, it was promoted a qualitative case study of a social entrepreneur from her speech and another six people that were indicated by her and who participated in the help project to others. Xinha from Liga Solidária (Non Governamental Organization) was considered from the main guidelines of the Grounded Theory, which is a methodology that sets out the research process as non-linear. The main conclusion is this social entrepreneur acts in networks to achieve improvements to a community. It was taken into account the studies on Granovetter's weak ties on networks and embeddedness to conclude that she actively worked to build a proactive development of the network, understanding local issues, recovering lost links, and sharing knowledge. Were thus highlighted the features that sets her apart as a social entrepreneur, who is the focus on social work and the promotion of innovation in society. What remained was the path taken by Xinha corresponded to her own process of training as a social entrepreneur / A finalidade desta dissertação é compreender o empreendedor social, observando-o na sua prática, e buscando consolidar uma visão abrangente, um entendimento deste agente que incorpore as abordagens das diferentes disciplinas que o estudam. O empreendedor social apresenta características, dependendo de quem o define: administradores, psicólogos, sociólogos e economistas. Importa acrescentar que a observação de qualquer fato ou ação social não é uma tarefa simples, dado que a sociedade é, por natureza e em qualquer instância, complexa; a complexidade se acentua na área de ajuda humanitária atual graças às múltiplas ações novas surgidas no cenário deste segmento, tais como: fundo de investimentos com finalidade de gerar impacto social, negócios sociais, setor 2,5, governança, transparência social e conselhos municipais com novos movimentos sociais. Assim como as instituições, surgem novos atores: os investidores e empreendedores sociais, que convivem com outros atores conhecidos na sociedade, como filantropos. Para tanto, promoveu-se um estudo de caso de natureza qualitativa de uma empreendedora social a partir do seu discurso e de mais seis pessoas que ela indicou e que participaram do seu projeto de ajuda aos outros. A Dona Xinha da Liga Solidária foi analisada a partir das principais diretrizes da Teoria Fundamentada (Grounded Theory), que é uma metodologia que explicita o processo de pesquisa como não linear. A principal conclusão é que essa empreendedora age em rede para atingir melhorias para uma comunidade. Leva-se em conta os estudos sobre redes de Granovetter sobre laços fracos e imersão (embeddedness) para concluir que ela atuou ativamente para formar uma rede concisa e ampla, entendendo os problemas locais, recuperando elos perdidos, e compartilhando conhecimento. Ficaram assim evidenciadas as características que a diferencia como empreendedora social, que é o foco no social (ter objetivo social) e a promoção da inovação na sociedade. O que restou comprovado foi que o caminho percorrido correspondeu ao seu próprio processo de formação como empreendedora social

O presente estudo teve por objetivo analisar a influência do conteúdo de divulgação científica publicado pelo canal Minutos Psíquicos do YouTube sobre a formação do capital social. O objeto de estudo foi analisado com o aporte da Teoria Fundamentada, uma ferramenta metodológica que tem sido recomendada por pesquisadores brasileiros e estrangeiros para o estudo das mídias sociais e das redes sociais na internet. O corpus de análise foi constituído pelo vídeo mais popular do canal selecionado e pelos comentários relacionados. Para a análise dos comentários foram utilizadas as três técnicas de codificação da Teoria Fundamentada: a codificação aberta, a codificação axial e a codificação seletiva. Ao final da pesquisa, foram identificadas três práticas discursivas que contribuem para a formação do capital social e de valores relacionados no contexto de estudo: a autoexpressão, as reações do canal e o suporte social. As formas de capital social que apareceram com maior frequência são o capital relacional, o capital cognitivo e a confiança no ambiente social. Porém, também foi possível constatar a presença do capital normativo e de indícios do capital institucional. Entre os valores construídos pelos usuários em suas práticas discursivas estão a visibilidade, a legitimação e o suporte social. Esse último merece destaque por perpassar todas as categorias principais. O intercâmbio de informações foi uma prática pouco expressiva naquele contexto. Por fim, conclui-se que o conteúdo publicado pelo canal funciona como um vetor para as diferentes formas de comportamento social que contribuem para a formação do capital social. / The objective of this study was to analyze the influence of the content of scientific divulgation published by YouTube Minutos Psíquicos channel on the formation of social capital. The object of study was analyzed with the contribution of Grounded Theory, a methodological tool that has been recommended by Brazilian and foreign researchers for the study of social media and social networks on the internet. The analysis corpus consisted of the most popular video of the selected channel and related comments. For the analysis of the comments the three coding techniques of the Grounded Theory were used: open coding, axial coding and selective coding. At the end of the research, three discursive practices were identified that contribute to the formation of social capital and related values in the study context: self-expression, channel reactions and social support. The forms of social capital that have appeared most often are relational, cognitive, and trustworthiness of social environment. However, it was also possible to verify the presence of normative capital and evidence of institutional capital. Among the values built by the users in their discursive practices are visibility, legitimation and social support. The latter deserves special mention because it covers all the main categories. The information exchange was not very expressive in that context. Finally, it is concluded that the content published by the channel works as a vector for the different forms of social behavior that contribute to the formation of social capital.